Gibbs and the "Professional Left"

By Adam Sorensen

In the heat of August, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs lost his cool. Incensed by liberal criticism of the Obama Administration for not pushing its legislative initiatives hard enough, Gibbs vented to a reporter that the so-called "professional left" were implacable ideologues who, judging by their obliviousness to political realities, "ought to be drug tested." After a cry of outrage from more than a few Democrats, Gibbs admitted that he had expressed his frustrations "inartfully" and called for a truce. But with Republican gains in Congress that could force Obama further to the center, tensions between the White House and the "professional left" may only be beginning.